I don’t know if a Richard Pryor biopic will ever hit the silver screen, but a more intriguing tale keeps bubbling behind the scenes.

That’s where son Richard Pryor Jr. is battling with his father’s widow over the film. They’ve bickered before, but now Pryor Jr. is threatening with a legal hammer. His lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jennifer Lee Pryor, demanding she stop producing the movie, accusing her of fraud in obtaining the rights to his name and likeness before the comedian died in 2005.

But Pryor Jr., who says he speaks for his siblings, insists the challenge isn’t about money but the truth. He says he is afraid Jennifer Lee Pryor will skew the film to smear the offspring.

“We might not have the rights to the name and likeness,” says Pryor Jr., 52, who works in theater in New York City. “But we have rights as his legacy. And we want the story to be told right.”

I’ll be honest here: I’m a big fan of Pryor, but I’m mostly interested in his biography chiefly as a fan in his hometown. Biopics are hard to do: a director has to cram a lifetime of activity into 2 hours or less — and make it interesting. That’s why a lot of detail gets lopped off: in Hollywood, a story need not be complete or truthful, but fun enough to sell tickets.

With Pryor, you’ve got to think Peoria — as a bawdy, brutal brothel-centric background to his childhood — would play a significant role. And I’d like to see how Hollywood plays Peoria.

Pryor Jr. also thinks Peoria should play a prominent role in the movie.

“I can’t see how you can’t depict Peoria,” says Pryor Jr., who attended Richwoods High School before graduating from Peoria Heights High School. “Peoria was a very important part of my dad’s life — good and bad.”

But he says he has no idea as to the script. The producer is Jennifer Lee Pryor, twice married to the comic and his wife when he died in 2005 at age 65.

Page 2 of 3 - For years, as the film languished as mere chit-chat in Hollywood, Pryor’s widow would talk to Pryor Jr. and the other siblings about the picture — and their involvement. The son says she promised them, “You’re going to be part of the film. You’re going to be in the movie.”

Lately, according to Hollywood press, the film seems headed forward, now that it’s under the direction of Lee Daniels, whose celebrated films include “Monster’s Ball” and “The Butler.”

But Pryor Jr. is still shut out: about a year ago, after apparently tiring of input from Pryor Jr., his stepmother stopped talking to him, he says.

“When you don’t agree with Jennifer, then she doesn’t want to talk to you,” he says. “She’s not a nice lady.”

Moreover, he says, when Richard Pryor was alive, Jennifer Lee Pryor put a wedge between him and his kids, in an effort to make herself the center of his life, his son says. And he fears the biopic will depict him and his siblings as outsiders.

“I don’t want it portrayed that he didn’t love his kids and he only cared about her,” he says.

Pryor believes Jennifer Lee Pryor has the legal rights to the name and likeness to his father. But the cease-and-desist letter, dated Sunday, accused her of “illegal, fraudulent activity.”

The letter doesn’t specify the allegation. But Pryor Jr. told me, “I don’t think my father was in his right mind and body” when he signed over the rights.

The letter continues, “We are beginning an investigation into this matter, and pending the outcome of this investigation, we request that you immediately cease and desist the production of this biopic.”

Jennifer Lee Pryor did not return a call for comment.

Pryor Jr. says he might sue, if she fails to comply with the letter — which has made for juicy fodder for entertainment newspapers and websites this week. Indeed, more than eight years dead, Richard Pryor still evokes high drama off-stage.

Meanwhile, over the years names such as Mike Epps and Jamie Foxx had been mentioned for the lead role. This spring, Jennifer Lee Pryor suggested Terrence Howard, perhaps best known for his turn as Lt. Col. Rhodey Rhodes in the first “Iron Man.”

Pryor Jr. disagrees: “He’s a good actor. But I can’t see it.”

Later, reports put Nick Cannon in the lead role. At first, Pryor Jr. panned the notion, saying Cannon seemed too squeaky clean and unpolished as an actor. But he later spoke with Cannon, who has been studying the great Peoria stand-up. Pryor Jr. now thinks Cannon would do a good job.

Page 3 of 3 - “I think he’s hungry for it,” Pryor Jr. says.

Once upon a time, Pryor Jr. — who in New York this fall will open a one-man show about his life called “Stirred Crazy” — boldly suggested he could handle the lead role. But now he says he’d be happy to help as a consultant.

“I know Peoria,” he says. “I know what my dad went through. I know the brothel run by my grandparents.

“You can get some of this from books. But it’s also important for someone to be involved who knows that area.”

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano or (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil. He co-hosts Barstorming, a video blog of unique local taps and eateries taps, at http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/barstorming